Tilly Nelson: Authentic representation

We’re Already Here is a portrait series by Tilly Nelson that was developed during her 2024 artist residency at Langara College.

The Langara College Photography Residency is a special program designed for experienced photographers looking to develop a personal portfolio project centred on social advocacy or broader humanitarian themes. Tilly was the first Photographer in Residence for the college, and her work there included mentoring students, studio work at the school, an exhibition, and a public lecture to share her experiences. 

When commercial photographer Tilly Nelson moved to Vancouver, Canada, from London, England, she immediately noticed a gap, not in the city’s diversity, but in the lack of diversity represented in commercial advertising images.

“There was this disconnect,” she says. “I noticed that the talent that was considered at castings for commercial advertising jobs was diverse in ethnicity and body shapes, but lacking in diversity when it came to visible disability.”

Over the past decade, Tilly has built a commercial career in visual storytelling defined by empathy and connection. Her work is focused on themes of visibility, belonging, and the need for authentic representation. Her clients include BC Children’s Hospital, lululemon, and the Canucks Autism Network. She got her start as an assistant at one of London’s top photography studios, but early on realized that this line of work wasn’t a creatively sustainable approach for her.

As she began prioritizing her passion for inclusion and advocating for diverse casting, she found herself welcomed into the disabled community and learning even more through connections and collaborations. “I have a lot of passion for justice and equality,” Tilly says, and it’s clear these ideas are at the heart of her work.

Tilly’s project for Langara College was originally sparked by conversations with people in the local disabled community over a number of years. To build a foundation for the project, she began by surveying 50 people with various disabilities, asking open-ended questions, and listening to their responses with an open heart.

She said she knew it was important to bring the voices of people with lived experience into the project’s planning stages and, as a person without a disability, she had to create this project very carefully. She challenged her own vision of what the project could be and let her subjects shape their own narratives.

Tilly notes that the responses she received were “both overwhelming and beautiful at the same time.”

The project resulted in eight portrait sessions and an exhibition of eight final images. Two voices from this project were of special note for Tilly.

Breanna, who uses a wheelchair and is a makeup artist for M.A.C Cosmetics, shared an empowering moment with Tilly: “A little girl in a wheelchair with light-up wheels approached me with her mum, and she said, ‘Look, Mum, she works here. That means I can work here too.’ And that’s what made all the hard work worth it.”

Robin, an opera singer, commented, “It’s isolating not to see yourself represented in the images around you. Many disabled singers think they are alone in this, but they’re not. We’re already here, and it’s time that you realized it. I’m here loudly and proudly disabled in the opera world, so that hopefully in the future others can be too.”

Robin’s quote became the project’s title. 

While the message behind We’re Already Here is powerful, the images hold intentional subtleties. Tilly’s goal was not to spotlight disability as a difference, but to weave it into the visual narrative in a way that mirrors real life. She knew she wanted to create a series of portraits in work environments, but she wanted the viewer to see the person, not just their disability.

Tilly describes one shoot featuring Zoe, a young girl who uses a wheelchair and wants to be a visual artist: “We created a scene where she was an artist in an art studio. I wanted the paintbrushes to sit perfectly so you could see only a small bit of the wheelchair.”

Another image features Omar, an actor who has an autoimmune condition that causes the skin to lose its pigment. “I didn’t want his vitiligo to be the busiest part of the image,” says Tilly. So she crafted this image in layers, utilizing intentional foreground and background props and elements to craft a busy composition to create depth and blend him into the space naturally.

When it came to the presentation of the images, Tilly felt it was important to share more information with viewers. She explains, “As I was creating this project without the lived experience of a person with disability, it was really important to give a voice to those involved so that it wasn’t solely my narrative or my words that were being presented. By including text panels next to the images, each person’s perspective could be best explained with their own words. We also presented letters from the parents of the kids involved to add another dimension. The text layered on the images was an opportunity for the people involved to share what they wanted to say without anyone else’s voice getting in the way. It felt important that these images had a powerful message built into them so that people would view the image, read the text, and then look at the image again. I wanted there to be a process and experience for viewers, and I wanted the message to be clear. It was about giving a voice to the disabled community.”

Though Tilly is no stranger to both commercial and personal projects, working out exactly how she would produce this work and engage the student community was a challenge she warmly welcomed when her proposal was accepted following her application and interview with the college. Tilly knew it was important to allow herself the space to recognize the opportunity she had been given to use her creative talent to tell someone else’s story. She summarizes, “There’s power and beauty in working out the process.”

Tilly said that the ability to produce a personal project with the school’s support was empowering. The stipend, access to facilities, and the community of students and faculty made this collaborative work possible. “I had a team of staff and professors encouraging me,” she notes.

As much as she saw the residency as an opportunity to teach student photographers entering the industry about inclusion, their collaboration also helped to spark conversations that shaped her project. Tilly says she hopes the work “ignites conversations about inclusion, inspires people to think more inclusively about who they work with and who they hire, and challenges the meaning of belonging. Creating projects that are sensitive, authentic, and genuinely showcase the beauty and joy of disability is something that hasn’t been done enough yet.”

“I want to be known for being a part of change that needs to happen,” says Tilly. “It might be uncomfortable at times, but we have to push for what we believe in.”

It is the hope of the college and the photography department that they can create an ongoing relationship with each of the residency alumni, and that photographers like Tilly become valued ambassadors for this professional program and the community at large.

This feature appeared in the MOVEMENT edition and was produced with the support of Langara College.

Find out more about their photography program - HERE.